This is a discussion on HELP ! NTFS partitions unreadable after linux install. HELP ! (Linux Newbie) - Help ; Hi,
I was running Windows XP with no problems, with a 40GB IBM HD partitioned as
follows
-OS (Windows XP Pro) on partition D:
-Program files on partition C:
-3 other partitions, for data storage E:, F:, H:
After installing ...

Hi,
I was running Windows XP with no problems, with a 40GB IBM HD partitioned as
follows
-OS (Windows XP Pro) on partition D:
-Program files on partition C:
-3 other partitions, for data storage E:, F:, H:
After installing Linux (mandrake 8.0, with Lilo for multiboot) on a
separate 40 GB HD, I lost access to my C: and E: partitions.

This means I boot fine to XP (through LILO), but I can't access to drives C: and E:.
I do see them, with the storage disc management utility of XP.
They show up, with right size and used space, and right volume name
but :
- Without a letter (unmountable)
- and with "unknown partition".

Well I don't know if this will help your situation or hurt it. Boot
from your windows XP CD and choose to repair a disk (I think that's
what it is). You'll get to a DOS prompt eventually and type "help".
You should get a big list with FIXMBR.EXE in it somewhere. If it's
there just type "fixmbr". This is how I got my machine working again,
but now that I think about it, I'm not sure if this is going to solve
your problem at all...